Reports, proud muckraking, photos, videos and musings from the veteran LGBT and AIDS human rights advocate Michael Petrelis. Based in San Francisco since 1995.
Contact: MPetrelis_at_AOL_dot_com.
Vote Petrelis for BART Board District 9 in November!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Obama/DNC's GayTM:Degeneres, Hormel, Geffen, Orman

This is a snapshot portrait of what Federal Election Commission records show for a few famous or financially well-endowed gay and lesbian people, at this stage of the 2012 election with nine-months to go before America heads to the polls. Let's look who's donated in recent years, how much and to whom.

Financial adviser Suze Orman has a lot of money to throw around, and donated $83,900 to the Democratic National Committee since 2008. Orman gave Hillary Clinton $11,000 for her senatorial run in 2000. Anyone know if she discloses her DNC giving when dispensing economic advice and analyzing Wall Street through mainstream media outlets?

Another philanthropist, Jon Stryker who started and funds the Arcus Foundation with an inherited fortune from medical devices, in 2010 coughed up $27,500 to the DNC and likes writing plenty of checks in the low four-figures to Democrats including gay Rep. David Cicilline.

Actress and relatively newly-out lesbian/bisexual/very questioning Cynthia Nixon last July donated $2,500 to Obama's reelection campaign. No other significant entertainer's name in this unscientific survey turned up in my search. Count on more A-gays to send money to help the president retain the Oval Office before November.

But let's end with a detour out of Democratic gay territory.

On the other side of the political aisle, Republican strategist and rainmaker Ken Mehlman contributed $20,000 to GOP Sen. Marco Rubio since 2010. Mehlman in recent years has made dozens of additional donations ranging from $500 to $5,000 to GOP candidates and PACs, similar to the Democratic gay philanthropists, except he's given only $1,000 to the Republican National Committee where he once served as the head of the organization.